BOUDNIB > TAGOUNITE Stage 2 - december 30th 2012

SS : 409 km – Liaison : 22 km : Total 431 km

A real African stage

After throwing themselves into the Special stage directly from the camp, competitors will take a fast beautiful track at the start that will quickly become rocky and undulating with black soil. The track will be difficult, notably at the descent of a very pretty, narrow and rocky pass. The landscape of this first section is amazing; competitors follow some stunning cliffs before arriving in a sandy river bed to the North of Merzouga where the CLASSIC and RAID vehicles will finish. The last few kilometers won't be easy for them and it'll be necessary to use sand mats. Crossing the Erg of Merzouga is also on the program towards the West and you'll eventually come back onto a good track alongside the Ziz river bed. There'll be some easy dune crossings before taking a long, often sandy and undulating track. The last difficulty of the day is the ascent of a volcano before the finish to the North of Tagounite. A long, difficult and tiring stage because of the numerous changes of landscape. Fortunately, navigation should not cause too many problems.